


Teachable Moments

by Selah



Series: Matteiru Kara [3]
Category: Heroes of the Storm (Video Game), NCIS, Overwatch (Video Game), Stargate Atlantis, VAMPS (Japan Band), World of Warcraft
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Gen, Platonic Soulmates, Romantic Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-27
Updated: 2018-06-27
Packaged: 2019-05-29 12:07:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15072812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Selah/pseuds/Selah
Summary: Life is a series of moments. Abby is still trying to find her footing in Tokyo when her best friend meets someone unexpected.





	Teachable Moments

**Author's Note:**

> So none of this was in my original plans for this verse (such as _those_ were), but I was doing research on tattooing in Tokyo and up popped a Shimada Tattoo and, well, yeah. Obviously Alexstrasza isn't a dragon in this verse, but since Hanzo refused to have anyone else for his soulmate....

Abby couldn't remember ever feeling this nervous just walking into a place. The front space was obviously a waiting area, but without any of the art samples she had seen in places back in Louisiana. Two chairs, a potted plant, a counter with a register and a lucky cat statue, but nothing that made it obvious what this place was.

“Um....”

An older man's head poked out of the back, scowling at them.

“Not my 2 o'clock. Gen-chan, get out front,” the man grumbled as he disappeared back into the back.

“Maybe we should –,” Miko started, tugging at Abby's sleeve, though she stopped cold when a young man about their age hurried out to the counter. He stopped short when he saw them, a shy smile appearing a beat later as he bowed to them both.

“Welcome to Shimada Tattoo, how can we help you?”

“Um, I'm looking to get a tattoo,” Abby said, nerves tangling in her gut. “This shop was highly recommended on the forum, but I wasn't ... I mean I understand if I have to make an appointment first, I just....”

“Tattoos are done by appointment,” the young man said with a nod, pulling out a large appointment book. “Depending on what you want, you may need an art consult appointment first, and obviously larger pieces will have to be done over successive appointments. What–.”

“I don't tattoo gaijin tourists!” a cranky voice from the back said and Abby felt her heart sink. Out of the half dozen messages on the forum, no one had said anything about Shimada refusing to work on non-Japanese. Two of the recommendations had come from fellow American ex-pats, in fact. Had something happened recently to change his mind? Or was this because she was a woman?

The young man with the appointment book brushed her hand a moment and smiled again.

“Aniki's having a bad day, but if you tell me what you're wanting, maybe I can help?”

“Nothing big! I mean, I haven't _completely_ decided, but I'm not ready for a big piece yet. I mean, I can't even see color, so....”

“Oh,” Genji said, his face falling a little as he closed the appointment book. “I'm not sure we can actually help you, then. It doesn't sound like you're really ready.”

“No, I am, I really am! I just ... maybe I got bad advice, they said this shop was the best and not to bring firm expectations on the art, cuz the artist would ultimately decide.

“For traditional art pieces, yes, but Aniki won't do color work on people who can't see color, so....”

The door chime rang and the young man's attention flicked past her a moment. Probably the expected customer from the way he smiled. A second young man, with tattoos of his own peeking out of short sleeves and a raggedy-looking short beard, appeared from the back to smile at the newly arrived customer, directing him to the usual room before turning back to the counter.

“Ladies, Genji-kun, what's up?” he asked, a polite but closed smile on his lips. Genji shifted, leaning half on the counter as he turned to consider his coworker a moment.

“You've got some time free right now, ne Ken-tan? New customer wants line work, she can't see color, so Aniki won't do it, but....”

“If it's just line work, yeah, I think we can figure something out,” the tattoo artist said with a nod. “Hand me a clipboard, Genji-kun? This way, miss...?”

“Sciuto. Abby Sciuto,” she said, bowing low in her gratitude. “Thank you so much, sir.”

“Ju-ken, pleasure, let's chat, yeah?” he said with a more open grin. Hopefulness returned as she followed him into the back, a corridor that led to several rooms, more than she had been expecting, to be honest.

“So, how are you at filling out paperwork and talking at the same time?” he asked as he showed her into a small room that looked pretty much exactly as she had expected.

“Not good,” she admitted as she hopped up onto the chair. “I'm too likely to fill in the wrong words, like putting placement instead of my name.”

“Fair enough,” he said, leaning against a counter with the clipboard propped against his pelvis, wrists crossed at the top. “So what's the kink that had that sour look on Genji-kun's face?”

“Well, um, I haven't completely decided what I want to get done first,” Abby said, her face pinching in worry. And yet he didn't get visibly angry or annoyed, instead nodding silent encouragement for her to continue.

“Well, like I kind of want a gothic cross on my back, but large, so that's probably out of the question for right now. I'm majoring in forensic science and criminology, so something with a DNA helix would be cool, not sure where, though. I also want something to highlight my soulmate mark, but a cherry tree feels _way_ too stereotypical, especially since I haven't even met him yet, plus that could be awkward with the placement. I'm not a tattoo virgin, I'm not, I just....”

“Yeah, that would explain his look,” Ju-ken said with a nod. “So two things. One, what soulmate mark? And two, where do you already have ink and can I see? Okay, that's three things.”

“Right, right, Catholics aren't common here,” she mumbled, embarrassed again. “Um, I have a mark, sorta like a tattoo but not, with the first words my soulmate will say to me.”

Abby could see Ju-ken's skepticism, but she was sort of used to that, glancing to see the privacy curtain had been drawn before shifting and hitching up her skirt. She had to bite her lip to keep from laughing at his surprise and then he was leaning closer, stopping himself just short of actually touching her hip.

“Sorry, that was unprofessional. 'It's been a long wait, yeah'? Well, I suppose that's more helpful than 'hello' or 'how can I help you?',” the artist said with a lopsided grin. “But definitely, I wouldn't do any art around that until you can see color. And advise you to run away from anyone who was willing to do otherwise. So ... the actual ink?”

“Oh right,” she said, tugging her skirt back into place before rotating to lift her hair away from the infinity symbol on the back of her neck and the small Aries symbol tucked behind her right ear. Subtle, easily hidden, but not the stereotypical ankle butterfly or something like that.

“Starting small,” Ju-ken noted.

“Kinda had to, I wasn't supposed to get either and then with knowing I _had_ to come here for college....”

“But now that you've gotten started, you want more?” Ju-ken said, smirking. 

“Yeah,” she admitted, biting her lip again.

“Well, next question is, do you want to keep doing small, Western-style pieces or are you looking for something more traditional?”

Abby hesitated for a moment, gnawing at her bottom lip, then pulled a printed page out of her purse, smoothing it out a bit before handing it over to him.

“That's the cross I want, at about that size, on my back. Just that, no embellishments or other intrusions. It's ... it's important to me.”

“If it's a matter of faith, shouldn't – actually, you know what, forget I even started that sentence. For this, I'd rather book you a full appointment, take the right amount of time to do it properly. But we can get your paperwork done today and a deposit so you don't have to worry about that next time? So. I'm gonna hand this over to you and then get us some tea and we'll talk some more so I can get a better feel for you as a person, yeah?”

“Um, okay,” she said, accepting the clipboard in confusion. Not that she was against it, but it felt ... strange. On the other hand, if this meant Ju-ken was interested in doing her tattoos and working with her to make sure she was happy with the designs ... that was a good thing, right?

~*~*~

“So what did you get?” Miko asked as they walked out of the shop, her whole face shining with her open curiosity. Abby couldn't help feeling shy at the intense interest, rubbing at her shoulder a bit in her nerves.

“N-nothing,” she stammered. “Well, no, I got an appointment for this coming Saturday. You definitely don't have to come for that, by the way, it's going to be five hours and I wouldn't want you to feel like you had to come with me and then be bored out of your mind waiting.”

“So I'll bring my homework,” Miko said with a shrug, as if it were no big deal. “And what do you mean, nothing? You were back there with him for over an hour!”

“Well yeah, but honestly, we just talked the whole time,” she said, hating how she could feel her cheeks getting red. “He wanted to know how I'd found the shop and why I was studying forensics in a foreign country that wasn't going to have much interest in hiring me after college. It was ... nice to talk about things with someone with such an outside-the-box perspective, you know?”

“In other words, you were flirting,” Miko countered and the way she was grinning, Abby really wished the sidewalk would just open up and swallow her whole for a second.

“What? No! It was his idea,” she insisted. “He's going to help me figure out designs for the rest of my tattoos and that means getting to know me better, that was all!”

“Uh-huh. I hope you know I'm so totally going to tease you for a month solid when he asks you out next time,” her friend said, grinning wickedly. This was so unfair.

“It wasn't like that!” she insisted. Miko just laughed, nudging her back towards their dorm. She was wrong, though, Abby knew it. There hadn't been any flirting. Not that ... Ju-ken seemed like a nice guy, if a little old for her, but Abby definitely hadn't been flirting with him. And she didn't think he had been flirting with her, either. Probably. Hopefully. She didn't want things getting weird between them.

~*~*~

It wasn't easy but somehow or another Miko resisted teasing her roommate too much for being so eager to see that tattoo artist, Ju-ken, again. Mostly because she didn't want Abby to refuse to let her go with her on Saturday. Sure, Genji wasn't The One, but that didn't mean she couldn't notice how cute he was.

“Are you sure about this?” Abby asked for probably the tenth time. “Five hours is a long time.”

“Will you stop fussing?” she countered, hitching her bag up her shoulder. “I'm sure. Now let's go before you end up being late. And don't forget your water bottle.”

The panicked squeak was almost too cute, but her words had the desired effect. And by the time they were walking into Shimada Tattoo again, Abby was practically vibrating with excitement.

“Ken-tan! Your afternoon appointment's here!” Genji called back before giving them both a cheerful grin. “Can I get either of you lovely ladies anything?”

“Maybe in an hour from now,” Miko said as she picked out a chair and got herself settled.

“Oh hey, are you even going to be able to lay still?” Ju-ken teased as he came out to join them, Miko snickering into her hand.

“I'll be fine, I just ... I'm really excited about this,” Abby said, still bouncing in place a little. Miko had seen for herself how quickly Abby could go from practically frenetic to completely focused, she had no doubt the same would happen here. And still she couldn't help wishing her good luck, even if she thought the woman was crazy.

She was eyeballs deep in Newtonian mechanics when Genji placed a hot cup of tea on the table next to her with a polite cough. She startled a little, frowning at the cup a moment before glancing up to see it was just the two of them. How curious.

“Sorry, just thought ... sorry. Studying Greek?”

“Physics, actually, she said, feeling herself returning his easy smile.

“Math,” Genji shake with a shake of his head. “Never could get my head around more than the basics. So are you and Sciuto-san ... you know, more than...?”

“Just friends,” Miko said, marking her place before closing the book. “She's only been in Tokyo for a couple of months, she'd totally get lost trying to find this place by herself. Or else on her way back. Or both. Probably both.”

What had possessed her to say all that? And yet Genji was laughing.

“Well, she wouldn't be the first. Though being off the beaten path has certain benefits for a place like this.”

She wanted to ask him what he meant, but at the same time it felt ... inappropriate. And then another customer was walking in and the moment was lost. She hadn't even thanked Genji for the tea....

~*~*~

“So did you ask her out?”

Genji startled, nearly falling over his own feet at the sudden clap of a hand to his shoulder.

“What? No! What?” he babbled like a hopeless idiot.

“Sciuto-san's roommate, did you ask her out?”

“She's not my soulmate, why would I?”

“Because she's cute? Just because you don't see color with her now doesn't mean you might not later.”

“Pretty sure that's not how it works,” he grumbled, half wishing someone else would come in just so he could get out of this conversation.

“You only say that because you're nineteen and think you know everything,” Ju-ken countered. “People change, needs change, why wouldn't soulmates change, too? Not every soulmate is a twin mate, you know.”

“Huh? Wait, what? What are you talking about?”

“The different types of soulmates? Come on, why do you think the color test even exists? Different kinds of soulmates, different colors in your vision. Except when you meet The One, of course. Assuming you have a perfect twin, that is.”

Well that was just.... Genji shook his head. Whatever, Ju-ken had always been a little weird. Not any point in getting into it with him, really. If thinking soulmates could change or be malleable was what helped Ju-ken get through the day, it wasn't his place to try to take that away from him. If he even could.

“... wow, okay, never mind then, Gen-chan,” his brother's journeyman said with another slow shake of his head. “Right, well, if anyone comes in, I'll just be in the back, cleaning up.”

Genji just nodded. After all, it wasn't like they got a lot of walk-in traffic. A thought occurred to him and he rushed over to check the computer. There, a note in Sciuto's file for her next appointment, next Saturday. Digging out the oversized physical date book his brother preferred, Genji added the appointment with a little grin. Surely Sciuto would bring her friend again. They _were_ off the beaten path, two visits wasn't going to be enough to make their location familiar to the gaijin. He hoped.

~*~*~

“Another appointment next weekend?” Miko asked, obviously skeptical. “What for?”

“Well, we didn't actually get the cross _finished_ yet,” Abby said, biting her bottom lip as they kept walking.

“But you were back there with him for five hours!”

“Well yeah, but it's not like he was tattooing me that whole time. I mean it's big and more complicated than it looks at first glance,” she said. “It's a lot of really fine lines, he made some amazing alterations, it's going to look _so cool_ , but yeah, it's going to take another session to finish. And then I won't go back for, like, a couple months or so.”

“For the record, I still think you're crazy,” Miko said, but she wasn't really arguing and Abby was grateful for that. Especially since she knew her friend still thought she had a thing for Ju-ken. Which she didn't, at least not like that. She liked him, sure, but it was strictly professional. He was an amazing artist and she appreciated his thoughtfulness, that was all.

Saturday came again almost too soon and yet it was something of a relief to step back into that shop. And then she noticed it wasn't Genji at the counter but a stranger, a Westerner of some flavor and she found herself wondering just what shade her hair was to be that tone of grey. A beat and the woman squeaked as she practically ran around the counter to catch Abby in a surprise bear hug. A few seconds of shock and Abby laughed, returning the hug.

“Sorry about that, Hanzo told me you were coming in today, so of course I had to meet you,” she said and Abby was actually surprised by her American English.

“Oh right, introductions,” the woman said with another laugh, stepping back and offering her hand. “Hi, I'm Allie Shimada, Hanzo's wife. Don't ask me what Allie's short for, though, my parents were horrible.”

“Abigail Sciuto, but if Sensei told you about me, you probably already knew that,” she said, shaking the woman's hand.

“He did, yes,” Allie said with a small smile. “Ah, sorry, I'm not trying to exclude your friend, it's just that my Japanese is still pretty terrible, sorry. I should let Ju-ken know you're here, but we can talk more later?”

“I'd like that,” Abby said, a million questions running through her head at once. But Allie was right, her questions could wait. She had business here to finish first. 

Even so, Abby felt a brief flicker of disappointment when Ju-ken announced he was finished with her tattoo. Which was ridiculous and she knew that, they had planned this as a two session tattoo, but it also meant she was already out of excuses to spend time with him and she hated that. Not that she wanted to date him, of course not, but he was just so nice....

“Have you decided where you want your next one yet?” he asked with a sly grin.

“No,” she admitted with a sigh as she carefully pulled on her shirt. “But I can't afford to start another one until probably August or September anyway. Gotta save up for a lot of things. I ... I _do_ want to get something more traditional eventually, but that may have to wait for after college.”

“Take your time,” Ju-ken said, smiling encouragement. “It's not like we're going anywhere.”

He walked her back out to the front, leaving her with Allie to settle her account, much to her disappointment. Abby bit her lip to keep from saying anything stupid, though, like impulsively asking him out for coffee. That was the last thing she needed to do, especially in front of Miko.

“All right, you're good to go,” Allie said as she handed over Abby's final receipt. “Would it be weird if I asked if you'd be interested in getting a cup of coffee together sometime?”

“Um, a little,” she half mumbled.

“Oh God, sorry, I didn't mean ... I've only been here six months, you're the first American woman I've met here, I didn't mean to make this weird,” Allie said in a rush. A second look and Abby was startled to realize this woman looked _maybe_ twenty-five, awfully young to be married to someone like the elder Shimada brother. There was a story here, she could smell it, and already she was wanting to learn more. Maybe they wouldn't have anything beyond being Americans in common, but what would it hurt to take a cup of coffee to find out?

“There's a bunch of coffee shops around the Tokyo University Bunkyo campus, if you're free Tuesday, say around two-thirty?” Abby suggested.

“I think I can swing that, sure. Meet at the campus?”

“Probably easiest, yeah. Certainly easier to find,” Abby replied with another small smile.

“Especially with the way all the best shops seem to be tucked around corners or down unlisted alleyways?” Allie said, laughing a little. “Tuesday, two-thirty, main entrance? I'll be hard to miss, I'm sure, but I'll keep my eyes peeled anyway.”

“I'm looking forward to it!” Abby said. And she really, genuinely was.

~*~*~

“You. Are a horrible woman, Alexandra Shimada.”

“Still not my name,” she sing-songed without looking up from the books. Hanzo laughed as he walked up behind her, resting his chin on her shoulder.

“Are you ever going to tell me what it is?”

“I'm impressed you managed Alexandra. But no. I like Allie, what does it matter what my _parents_ wanted?” she countered, closing the ledger with a solid thump to lean back against him.

“Ah, curiosity, it's a terrible curse,” Hanzo said, chuckling and brushing a kiss to her cheek. “Are you really so very lonely?”

“Hanzo, your English is lightyears ahead of my Japanese. I manage most things ... somewhat okay. And I am - slowly! - getting better, but it's still hard sometimes.”

“ ... I should have asked sooner how you were feeling. I'm sorry, my queen, I've been so focused on work....”

“As you should be! This business is what keeps a roof over our heads and food in our bellies! I just ... wish I could do more.”

It was a moment in which she really could have used a kiss and more of Hanzo's steady support. So of course Hanzo's kid brother chose that moment to burst in on them, babbling excitedly about ... something. He was talking too quickly and her vocabulary was too thin, she really couldn't even guess what he was saying. So instead she watched the two brothers' faces. Whatever had happened, Genji looked conflicted and Hanzo looked surprised, though not upset. But it still wasn't enough to tell her anything.

“ _Bakayarou_!”

Well _that_ she understood, though not the words that came in a rush after it, except ... something about their father? Maybe? Sighing, she got up from the desk, which was at least enough for Genji to finally notice her, his whole face flushing pink.

“Allie-neesan....”

“Relax, my Japanese is far too terrible to know why Hanzo called you a hopeless idiot,” she said as she straightened up the books. “You two sort it out while I get dinner started?”

“I have a better idea,” Hanzo said, still giving his brother a dirty look. “Genji's going to clean up the shop while you and I go out for dinner for a change. We'll even do ice cream after.”

As much as she wanted to argue ... it _would_ be nice to go out for a change.

“Sounds like a date,” she said instead, grinning. “Just give me five to freshen up a bit?”

“Wasn't thinking of doing anything fancy.”

“Of course not, but a girl still likes to look her best,” she countered with a wink. “Five minutes.”

“Five minutes,” Hanzo agreed with a nod. Hopefully whatever trouble the kid had gotten himself into this time, Genji would be able to sort it out quickly.

~*~*~

Only Monday and yet Abby was feeling anxious, struggling hard against some pretty ridiculous nervous jitters. Something seriously hinky was going on, she could feel it in the air, even if she couldn't put her finger on anything more than that nebulous feeling. Classes went as always, droning lectures and all. Even her chem lab went smoothly for a change. It was really starting to weird her out.

“Bi-chan? Something wrong?” Miko asked when they met up after class.

“I don't know. I keep expecting something, but ... we didn't even have a mishap in chem lab today,” she confessed, sitting down as they waited for a couple of their other friends. “Which is some kind of first, so maybe that's why I'm so anxious, I don't know. I just ... I don't know, it's like when I'd get a weird feeling about a trail we were on, but Luca would want to keep exploring. It always, _always_ ended badly.”

“I'm sure you're exaggerating,” Miko said, sitting next to her. “It's just another day, nothing that exciting ever happens around here anyway. Unless you're trying to get out of karaoke again, in which case, forget it! You skipped the last two times, you can't skip again or I'm going to start taking it personally!”

Abby took a deep breath and tried to tell herself that Miko was right, that she was getting wound up over nothing. It didn't work, that buzzy feeling kept prickling at the back of her neck.

“Abby! Abby, Abby, Abby!”

Abby's head jerked up so fast her neck cracked. Saki and Mei were rushing over to them, though she couldn't tell yet what had them so excited.

“So ... do we get to see it now?” Saki asked, bouncing in place.

“Oi! Saki-chan, that's not the part we agreed to lead with!” Mei half grumbled, swatting their friend.

“I'm curious!” Saki countered. “Besides, the building isn't going to be any less burned down later!”

“Burned down? What burned down?” Abby asked.

“It didn't burn _down_ ,” Mei corrected, rolling her eyes. “There was a fire over in Udagawa-cho this afternoon, pretty much gutted a couple buildings, including the one with Shimada Tattoo. So, uh, hope you got yours finished, cuz yeah....”

There it was, the horrible feeling she had been avoiding all afternoon.

“Oh my god ... was anyone hurt?!”

“Nothing serious, not that we've heard about anyway. Just a lot of property damage,” Mei said, shaking her head a little. “The news said they think it was faulty electrical something or other in a storage closet. One of the other units was a cleaning service, things got outta control pretty quickly when it hit the flammables in there.”

“They just better hope it really was an accident or it could turn into a huge scandal. It's going to be months before it all gets cleaned up properly, you know,” Saki added.

Months. Well, she _did_ say she needed to take some time to figure out her next tattoo. Still....

“I gotta make a phone call, I'll meet you guys at the usual place?” she asked, worry nibbling at her conscience.

“No wiggling out of it, Bi-chan!” Miko scolded.

“Word of honor!” Abby said, making a little cross over her heart. She waited for her friends to be out of sight before digging up her phone and trying the number she had for Allie.

_“Hello?”_

“Allie? It's Abby. I just heard about the fire, is ... is everyone okay?”

_“Abby? Oh, yes, yes, the boys are all fine. Hanzo had actually closed the shop for lunch, so they were all out already when the fire got bad.”_

“Well that's a relief. Um, are we still on for coffee tomorrow or do you need to...?”

_“No, no, we're definitely still on for tomorrow!”_ Allie insisted. _“To be honest, there's not much I can do about this anyway, but thanks for calling, I really appreciate it. I'm sure the boys will, too, when I tell them.”_

“All right, well then, see you tomorrow. And I'm really glad no one was hurt,” Abby said. Too easy, that hinky feeling wasn't completely gone yet. But what else could she do? A sigh and she shook her head, told herself to ignore it, at least for now. Tomorrow. She could ask Allie about it some more tomorrow.

~*~*~

Despite the original plan, it was such a nice day that Abby and Allie opted for canned coffee and combini bento, then found a nice park for their late lunch. Allie, as an agnostic raised by hippies, had never had any clues about her soulmate. Running into Hanzo, literally, in an Albuquerque shopping center had been nothing less than an act of Fate. Most of her friends - and nearly everyone Hanzo had ever known - thought they had rushed into their marriage far too quickly, but she was happier with Hanzo than she had ever been in her life, even with the age gap between them.

“To be sure, it's overwhelming to be living in a foreign city like Tokyo when I barely know the local language, though it's better than Hanzo's hometown. But to be honest, I can't imagine being anywhere else at this point, you know? I love him to death and it just ... we make it work. And that's the whole point, isn't it? Soulmates aren't magic, it's all about the work, just like any relationship.”

“I hope you're at least taking language classes,” Abby said, wary that her new friend would turn out to be one of _those_ gaijin, the sort who refused to even try to adapt.

“I want to, but it's a bit intimidating. I did find an online language app, but it's been slow going. Even the app says I should be taking classes with other people, but money was already tight and now with the fire....”

“Shouldn't insurance take care of that?”

“It'll cover repairs and a portion of the lost income, but... As it is, Hanzo's other apprentice employee already said he couldn't stay on with as little as insurance was going to give us to pay him. If it wasn't for Ju-ken and me, I think Hanzo would be seriously considering giving up, going back to the family business with his hat in his hands, so to speak.”

“What about just moving to a new location?”

“Hanzo has a contract for the space,” Allie explained with a sigh. “But even if he didn't, he said it was hard enough finding a space the first time. Not everyone is so keen on having a tattoo shop in one of their buildings, even with all the licenses, you know? With everything else, it's just easier, ultimately, to rebuild. Relatively speaking.”

“I wish I could help somehow,” Abby said, feeling suddenly melancholy. “But I'm sure it'll be fine in the long run, yeah? Shimada Tattoo had the highest rating in the city on the forum. And if you get to missing the sound of proper American English too much, you can always look me up!”

“I'd like that,” Allie said, smiling. “And maybe, when I get a little further into it, you can help me practice my Japanese? Hanzo's bad to laugh at me when I try to practice with him, the jerk.”

“I'm sure it's meant with love.”

“Oh I _know_ it is,” her new friend agreed, smiling brightly. “But that doesn't make it any more helpful.”

“Well, how about we make a weekly habit of it? Every Tuesday? We can meet like we did today and we can go over whatever the app has been suggesting for you for the week?”

“... I couldn't impose on you like that....”

“It's not problem,” Abby insisted. “This way we can get to know each other better, it'll be good for both of us.”

She watched as Allie visibly mulled it over for a few minutes before finally nodding.

“All right, but if I start taking up too much of your time, you have to tell me.”

“Cross my heart,” Abby said, making the sign with one hand while hiding the crossed fingers of her other hand. An hour a week? Yeah, no, that was never going to be too much of an imposition. God knew she'd done a lot more for friends in the past.

~*~*~

“Excuse me, Kusanagi-san?”

Miko looked up, then did a double-take when she saw the younger Shimada brother standing there, green hair and all.

“Sh-shimada-san....”

“No, please, Genji's fine,” he said with a sheepish smile. “I, um, I hope this isn't too creepy, but ... would you like to have coffee with me some time?”

“It's a public campus, so.... But, um, yes, I think I'd like that.”

“R-really? I-I mean, great!” he said, pulling himself up a bit taller with a bright grin. “How, um, how about tomorrow afternoon? If ... if you're not too busy....”

“I have classes all afternoon,” she said, biting her lip a moment as an inner voice that sounded a lot like Abby's prodded at her to be more proactive. “But I'm free right now?”

It took him a moment, but when it clicked, his smile was brighter than the sun.

“Now is good. Now is great. Starbucks okay?”

“Starbucks is fine,” Miko replied. Genji was radiating happiness like a puppy, it was almost too cute.

Maybe that was why it wasn't until he was kissing her hand and wishing her a good night that she even noticed she was actually seeing color. It wasn't anywhere near completely - there were a lot of greys still between the blues and greens she was seeing now. But the worse part was realizing she had no idea when it had happened and thus no idea who could have triggered it. With such a narrow part of the color spectrum, it wasn't a major romantic soulmate, but it still would have been nice to know _who_.

“Miko-chan? What's wrong??” Abby asked, visibly worried for her.

“I ... I met a partial soulmate today, but I have no idea when or who,” she whimpered in reply, collapsing onto her bed.

“Partial soulmate? They come in partials?” her friend asked, obviously startled and even a bit confused.

“Well yeah. It's pretty rare that just one person, one soul, is everything to another. It happens sometimes, twin flames they call them, soulmates that can unlock all the colors for each other. Most people who think they're seeing full color have only met their primary and don't realize anything is missing until they actually meet a secondary soulmate. There's a vision test, I ... I should probably take it myself, just to know if this is a teacher or a guide or something else.”

Miko had to bite her lip to keep from laughing at the completely floored look her roommate was wearing.

“I take it that's not how they teach things in America?”

“I've never heard of a vision test before. The teachers and our parish priest always made it sound like ... like your soulmate was one person who would unlock all the colors of your heart,” Abby admitted, looking unusually shy. Or maybe just embarrassed. Miko nodded a little in sympathy since she could remember being told something similar when she had been very young still. But somewhere around the end of elementary school, the story had changed. And then in high school, one of her classmates had gained a couple of colors, to the envy of just about everyone else in the class. Noguchi-san had changed school six months later, Miko had never bothered to find out why. Now she almost wished she had.

An online version of the test said her results were too inconclusive, even for a web test, and that she should see a licensed clinician. Miko sighed and closed the tab. As much as she wanted to know, she wasn't sure it really mattered. Maybe it would give her a hint to who it was, but then again maybe it wouldn't. And then what?

“I know I don't know much about it,” Abby said, briefly reaching out to squeeze her hand in support, “but Mama always said a soulmate was like a coon hound - it didn't matter what you did, the good ones would always come back to you.”

“... Americans have such weird sayings....”

“... yeah, that might not have translated very well,” Abby admitted with a nervous chuckle. “The point is ... well, if this person is meant to be an important part of your life? Whoever it is, you'll meet them again.”

“I suppose you're right. I'm seeing these colors for a reason. I just wish I knew why, who. But ... if wishes were fishes, as Gramma used to say....”

Abby laughed and Miko had to admit she felt a little better about the whole thing now. Either way, Abby was right, there was no point in worrying about it.

**Author's Note:**

> Haven't entirely decided what the next story in this series should be, if it should be another Abby piece, an Allie piece, or both. Or something else? Suggestions welcome!


End file.
